Team Fortress Classic (TFC) is a game from the (relatively) distant past, but it remains beloved by a devoted (dare I say, positively homicidal) group. Even today, new players continue to pop up in servers. Sadly, given the sheer brutality of the game and the massive disparity in skill levels between people that have played for 20 years and people that have played for 5 minutes, the newbs have a tendency to quickly run away and hide.

For me, there are two factors that set TFC apart from every other FPS that I've ever played.1. The game requires actual skill to play well. There are no hats. There is no "point in the general direction and you will still hit" AI. You learn how to move, how to shoot, and how to use grenades, or you die and run away to mummy.2. The gameplay has real depth; every class opens up a different set of strategies, but none of the strategies are perfect, and all of the action is always 3D because of movement, movement, movement.

These two factors make TFC both a truly great game, and a truly bad one.

It's great because once you have a modicum of skill and understanding, enough so that you're not being annihilated within seconds of venturing out of spawn, it becomes an amazingly fun game. Mucking around in public servers with people who know what they're doing (and a few who don't ) is fun, but played clanmatch-style and at speed, with separate offence and defence subteams of a reasonable size on a capture-the-flag map, the adrenaline hit from playing is right up there with skydiving. I've done both, and I know I'm not exaggerating.

The flipside is, it's bad because it takes a minimum of two years of devoted practice for most players to become competitive. That's a hard slog when you have plenty of other gaming options that are a lot easier to learn, and it takes its toll on new players.

For me, what this means is simple: TFC remains the best FPS (and perhaps the best computer game) ever made. There is nothing quite like the rush of diving into a sea of enemies determined to kill you, infecting them all, circlestrafing their sentry gun, snatching the flag from under their noses, and disappearing in a white flash.

Nice review. I suggest removing all references and comparisons to TF2...I think you want a TFC review, not a TF2 review or the difference between these games.

The reason I have the mentions about TF2 is to help the TF2ers understand that the games aren't even comparable. Do you think that is antagonizing? I really do want to do a comprehensive review of TFC and help people understand the fun factor is not instant gratification but a worthwhile investment. If you guy sthink the TF2 mentions are unnecesary or incendiary I will remove them.